Oregon Literary Fellowship Recipient Comes to OSU

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon Book Award finalist Geronimo Tagatac will appear at Oregon State University to read from his short story collection, “The Weight of the Sun” on May 3 at 7 p.m.

The event, hosted by the Craft of Writing Series, will be held in OSU’s Memorial Union Journey Room. It is free and open to the public.

Tagatac’s first book, “The Weight of the Sun,” was nominated for the 2006 H.L. Davis Award for Short Fiction. His short stories have appeared in publications such as Writer’s Forum, The Northwest Review, The Chautauqua Literary Journal and Best Stories of the American West. He also is a recipient of the Oregon Literary Fellowship and the Fishtrap Fellowship.

Tagatac often draws on his rich life experience in his writing. His father was a Filipino from the northwest area of Luzon in the Philippines. His mother was a Russian Jew living in New York when the couple met. Tagatac’s father ended up raising the children alone, in farm worker houses among mostly Filipino immigrant men.

“I began writing short stories as a way to make sense of my life,” Tagatac said in a 2004 interview. “By the time I was in my 40s, I had been a farm worker, cannery warehouseman, kitchen worker, homeless college dropout, coffeehouse folksinger, special forces soldier in the Vietnam War, a ski bum, rock climbing bum, a short order cook, college teacher, martial arts instructor, and a modern and jazz dancer.”

Tagatac, who has a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Davis, now lives and works in Salem.